University of Chicago professor to speak about the issue of suicide terrorism

The Growing Threat of Suicide Terrorism is the title of a lecture by Robert Pape scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26 in 220 Kane. Pape is a professor of political science at the University of Chicago who specializes in international security issues.

Pape argues that suicide-terrorist attacks are not driven by religion as much as by a clear strategic objective: to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from the territory that the terrorists view as their homeland. From Lebanon to Sri Lanka to Chechnya to Kashmir to the West Bank, every major suicide-terrorist campaign — more than 95 percent of all the incidents — has had as its central objective to compel a democratic state to withdraw. Pape will present research to support his view.

The lecture is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the Comparative Religion Program, the Jackson Foundation and The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies.